Jimmy Carter's Unique Status As A Liberal Who Lost Re-Election Reminds Us of Conservatives' Record of Failed Presidencies

Originally published to Blogger on February 21, 2023

A few days ago, Jimmy Carter, at the age of 98, entered hospice care, and the news was met with an astounding call of gratitude for Carter's long life from nearly all angles of the political spectrum, even from some parts of MAGA. In fact, Charlie Kirk from Turning Point USA wrote this astounding tweet:

Now, to be clear, he hilariously ignores the billionaire reality TV show buffoon eating cheetos on his gold toilet in his Palm Beach mega-mansion, and the money Charlie Kirk has in his own bank account funneled by rich conservative mega-donor activists. But still, it's downright impressive how Jimmy Carter has earned even an ounce of respect from the right, because it did not used to be this way. 

Jimmy Carter lost re-election to Ronald Reagan in 1980 by 50-40%, and only managed to win 6 states, 2 of which were his home state and his running mate's. With the country reeling from an economic disaster brought upon by the Arab Oil Embargo, with seemingly unsolvable stagflation, and a nation unable to heal its wounds from a decade of embarrassing foreign policy disasters, it was like President Carter was handcuffed to a railroad track and the train was already barreling towards him. Conservatives enjoy picking at liberals about Jimmy Carter because he lost re-election in a landslide to Ronald Reagan, and the conditions of the country at the time make it easy to direct blame at him. But conservatives should really think before throwing stones from their glass house.

Since the Civil War, nine presidents have run for re-election (or run for the first time after having ascended to the Presidency) and lost. Eight out of these nine men were considered ideological conservatives. Those men are:

Chester Arthur (lost in 1884; came in 2nd at the 1884 Republican Convention)

Grover Cleveland (lost in 1888) (he did run again and win in 1892, however)

Benjamin Harrison (lost in 1892)

William Taft (lost in 1912)

Herbert Hoover (lost in 1932)

Gerald Ford (lost in 1976)

Jimmy Carter (lost in 1980)

George H. W. Bush (lost in 1992)

Donald Trump (lost in 2020)

A one-term presidency is generally considered a failed presidency by political historians, and conservatives have a proud tradition of failed presidencies. And that's beyond just losing re-election. 

On the other hand, liberals have a damn good track record of success as incumbent Presidents. They are 11-1 in re-election campaigns since the Civil War.

Re-Election Victories for Liberals:

1864: Abraham Lincoln

1872: Ulysses Grant

1904: Teddy Roosevelt

1916: Woodrow Wilson

1936: Franklin Roosevelt

1940: Franklin Roosevelt

1944: Franklin Roosevelt

1948: Harry Truman

1964: Lyndon Johnson

1992: Bill Clinton

2012: Barack Obama

(The chart I linked you to above says Eisenhower was technically a liberal, but we're going to call him a pure moderate and count him as neither ideology. Part of that equation rests on legislation passed, and he had a liberal Congress for the last 6 years of his presidency.)

Re-Election Losses for Liberals:

1980: Jimmy Carter

However, in the land of imbeciles who prefer to stare into the rear view mirror more than into the future, and have the policy imagination skills of a moose, conservatives have a 6-8 record in re-election campaigns since the Civil War.

Re-Election Victories for Conservatives:

1892: Grover Cleveland*

1900: William McKinley

1924: Calvin Coolidge

1972: Richard Nixon

1984: Ronald Reagan

2004: George W. Bush

Re-Election Losses for Conservatives:

1884: Chester Arthur

1888: Grover Cleveland

1892: Benjamin Harrison

1912: William Taft

1932: Herbert Hoover

1976: Gerald Ford

1992: George H. W. Bush

2020: Donald Trump

And let me remind the audience that after many of these conservatives' re-election victories, some of our country's worst disasters came afterwards. In 1893, just after Grover Cleveland won his second presidency, the country had now been governed by pro-corporation conservative presidents (of both parties) for decades. But the country, in the height of the Gilded Age, watched its economy melt down from the failure of the railroad industry. Calvin Coolidge may have won a landslide re-election in 1924, but just 5 years later, the conservative policies passed by him and his predecessor, Warren Harding, would bring our economy into the worst depression in its history, and force Franklin Roosevelt and other liberals to clean up the mess. And in 2004, George Bush managed to narrowly beat John Kerry with the help of being an accidental wartime president, and then his policies green-lighted by the republican congress of the early 2000s subsequently crashed our economy again. And of course, Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi, the liberals on the block, had to arrive in 2009 and clean up the shitstorm handed to them. 

If liberal presidents were a college football team, they would be headed to the football playoff with a 11-1 re-election record. On the other hand, conservatives' 6-8 losing record wouldn't even manage to qualify them for the Chuck E. Cheese Kids' Birthday Party Bowl. I guess conservatives spend so much time insulting Jimmy Carter's loss in 1980 because it is literally the only time a liberal president couldn't beat his challenger. Everybody knows that from 2015-2020, Alabama was the best football team in the country, but in most of their championship seasons, they still dropped a game in the middle of a season. And whenever they did, the team that won the game would go absolutely bonkers, with students storming the field, taking down the goalposts - bottles of beer and cans of Whiteclaw would rain across of the bleachers. Tons upon tons of fireworks exploding in the air like the clock had just struck midnight for the New Year. I guess for republicans, they have to celebrate beating the incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980 so much because it's so special - the one-time, never-seen-again conservative victory against a liberal president. On the other hand, conservatives have so many failed presidencies that it's hard to focus on just one.

Jimmy Carter standing alone in his own category as the only defeated liberal president speaks volumes about the track record of conservative policy in America. But the fact that the one liberal president with an electoral stain on his presidency is no longer considered a complete failure also tells us something about the man Jimmy Carter is. He has become one of the kindest and humblest men of our era. He dedicated the rest of his life to serving others. Being kicked out of the White House didn't stop him from building houses for people halfway across the world. I feel sorry for conservatives, because Jimmy Carter represented their one opportunity to take a dump on liberals, but after 43 years, Jimmy Carter finally got the last laugh. The country respects him again. He was right on climate change when Reagan got it wrong. He was right on protecting peace, and the neo-conservatives got it wrong. He was right on national health care, and the failure of conservatives to repeal Obamacare proved him right. Jimmy Carter may have lost one election, but liberals have won the battle for success.